OT: New Low end Mac comparison

[Maarsmusic]

I've noticed that according to several major online Apple sites that the Mini 1.25 apparently has been shipping with 5400rpm drives, as opposed to the 1.42 that ships with 4200RPM models. Thus, Macworld's testing shows the disk speed on the 1.25 to be about 20% faster than on the 1.42 model.

The CPU testing seemed to reveal a 7 to 10% speed advantage for the 1.42. As might be expected, the video speed is essentially unchanged between these system. In either case, except for disk speed, the Mini's perform roughly like a 1.25 eMac.

(Only the 1.6 Ghz iMac shows a notable improvement over any of the other systems in terms of CPU power.
It makes me wonder how much is the "G5" effect, and how much is simply because of the superior clock and bus speed on the iMac).

With a rumored eMac speed bump, it makes you wonder if the Mini is a good value, or simply just a cool looking little machine.

In any event, my Apple connection has given me a 3 to 4 week estimate for Mac Mini delivery!

I wonder what the actual difference in terms of PTLE performace would be with the two Mini models...
Someone needs to get one of each and do some testing, or get Macworld to include a PTLE benchmark in their test suite.

Regards,

Markus

[Slim Shady]

With a rumored eMac speed bump, it makes you wonder if the Mini is a good value, or simply just a cool looking little machine.

$500 clams for any mac is a good value IMHO.

[ggunn]

$500 clams for any mac is a good value IMHO.

Could I interest you in a 68030 Performa, then? It's a steal at 500 bucks. ;^)

[tele_player]

I've done a fair bit of testing with the 1.42Ghz/80G Mac mini. It's not really limited by the 4200 RPM drive. I also have an unopened 1.25Ghz box, but I just got that for speculation - I'll probably return it unused, since I don't think Apple's having big trouble keeping up with demand.

These things are not PowerMacs - but they're as usable for PTLE as a PowerBook at similar clock rates. The 1.42 has no trouble recording 32 tracks simultaneously to the internal 80G drive. I haven't tested any sessions with complex edits, an external FW drive is still a good idea.

It's too early to decisively declare that Mac mini is 100% stable with ProTools, but I haven't had any problems with it and my 002 and 6.7.

[tucum]

tele player, did you get a good plugin count with your mac mini?

[Maarsmusic]

I'm impressed about the 32 tracks to the internal 4200rpm hard drive.
One has to wonder if your (potentially planned) Mbox test would still allow for such a high track count.

I suppose that there is not advantage to having the 40/5400rpm drive (except for a slight overall loading speed boost).

Digidesign should certify the eMac at the same time as the Mini -- when platform has as few models as the macintosh, there's hardly and excuse for not testing all of them.

The 3 to 4 week (Mac Mini) waiting period will feel like an eternity.

regards,

Markus